Edward St. Aubyn – CANCELLED

Edward St. Aubyn was born in London in 1960. The author of six novels, including Mother’s Milk, Never Mind, and Bad News, St. Aubyn is highly acclaimed in the U.K. as one of the most original, intelligent, and acerbically witty voices of our time. He has developed a cult following in the U.S. particularly among writers, and the publication of Some Hope marks his U.S. debut. The collection of novels is broadly autobiographical; the complex and beautifully written narrative chronicles the harrowing childhood and complicated adulthood of Patrick Melrose, someone born into enormous social privilege and devastated by it. St. Aubyn’s searing satirical style is on par with Evelyn Waugh, while his portrait of addiction, isolation, morality and forgiveness is both intellectually provocative and deeply moving.

Alice Sebold, who hosts this event and is an avid reader of St. Aubyn, is the author of The Almost Moon, the memoir Lucky and the bestseller The Lovely Bones. One of the best-reviewed novels of the decade, The Lovely Bones was an unprecedented international bestseller, with translations in over 45 languages. A film version of the book was adapted, written and directed by Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson. In 2007 Sebold published The Almost Moon, a controversial novel that plunged into taboo territories of matricide and mental illness. Sebold has contributed to numerous anthologies and has edited The Best American Short Stories 2009. She is an avid reader of St. Aubyn.